Saturday, February 14, 2009

This video is from a friend of C&C. Duvydawg took his son Jack to his first ever Georgia basketball game. It was the first sign that the dawgs were going to take out Florida today. Jack's first football game was Stafford's first career win and Jack's first baseball game was the Dawgs beating #1 Arizona at Foley Field last year. Jack, you are a DGD!

Oh, and our pitching staff is possibly more talented than the Braves. Seriously.

One of Georgia's all-time greatest leaders

The best thing about Georgia baseball is David Perno. We are so very lucky to have him. Here is what I said about Perno before the Regionals last year:

Basically I'm going with UGA because of Perno. The sumbitch imposes his will on a team as good as any manager. He's a winner and his teams that have had talent have lived up to it. He has 2 SEC Championships and is chasing his 3rd CWS trip since 2002 (the programs 4th this decade).

Anybody that's ever heard me talk about him knows how highly I think of him. I actually think he'll go down as one of the greatest ever college coaches after his career is over. He just has 'it'. He wills his teams and inspires his players. Kind of like Suzanne Yoculan. Back when SNL was good, Chris Farley did a Perno impression:

The best entertainment money can buy in the Athens area is tickets to Georgia Baseball:General Admission Season Ticket.....$100Reserved Seatback Season Ticket.....$125Family Plan (2 adult / 2 youth) ......$225Go get you season tickets here.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Hope all is well this wrestling/basketball season. I thought I might throw out a conversation piece that has bothered me for quite some time. Doesn't keep me up at night, but certainly a conversation piece that's worthy of discussion.

All in my opinion: There seems to be a myth out there that what makes a successful running game for an NFL team is the quality of the back. This theory I whole heartidly disagree with. I assume many will agree, but I would be interested in hearing the other side. This years draft will be used as the model.

As I have zero coaching experience and can only sit by (like all of us) and ponder the choices being made by these highly paid decision makers, I have to wonder... Why the hell is there such an emphasis on the Running Back these days? There was a point in time (Walker/Dorsett/W Payton) when the running back truly could change the tide of the game. Single handidly this ability is no more. The talent of players across the board is too talented. Linebackers now run 4.4's and 4.5's. Speed, power and cutting ability, though important, are becoming less of an impact. Barry Sanders retired realizing this fact. You can be great, but the talent now days is too good to put an entire team on your shoulders. Once acknowledged, let's get back to the question: why the emphasis on RB's these days?

It should be stated that I'm well aware of the offensie linemen (hypothetically) drafted ahead of these various backs. However, the point is this.

Is it really worth passing on a potential "bad ass" OL (with the potential longevity being twice as long as the pompous prick he's typically blocking for?) as it is to draft the highlighted RB stars of the NCAA? Me thinks not.

It has been proven time and again that the offensive line can make any running back at the pro level look like a super star and thus grant him access to receive all kinds of accolades and praise. I won't continue to throw out the many names/examples, as that would merely bring up sensitive points with some and that's certainly not my purpose. To avoid sensitivity in you girls, I'll bring up my favored team, the Dallas Cowboys. Emmitt Smith. Great running back. No doubt. Won Super Bowls and positioned himself as the leading rusher in all football... I love it. Now the discussion... Was he merely set up in a position of circumstance with one of the greatest offensive lines in history, or is he truly that great and worthy. Me thinks a little of both. He was able to run through holes that any RB (at times a couple of us) with a pulse would have been able. He made some great moves, he made some cuts, but really... Was it all his doing or the offensive line that worked for him? Take this theory farther and was Terrell Davis such a stud for Denver, or merely a protege of circumstance? How about Jamal Anderson? For the most part, these guys had holes any of us could have ran through. They all had talent, no doubt, and not to take away from that, but my point is that perhaps these players were glorified not by shear talent, but perhaps mere beneficiaries of situational circumstance.

Now put yourself in the coaches chair:Barry Sanders. I can only assume is the consensus greatest RB of all time and unfortunately played for the worst team of all time. His accomplishments are truly amazing given the circumstances. If you had the best O-line in all football right now, would he be your man? If not, he'd be up there, right?

Applied today:Knowshon Moreno. If you knew you could build the O line and pass on Knowshon, yet get the likes of Ringer in the 3rd round would you do so?

Better addressed, would Knowshon be more advantageous as a #12 pick behind a Detroit Lions type line, or would Ringer be more productive at #65 behind a Detroit Lions line with a New Bad Ass Lineman?

Why teams are so concerned with their RB stable as opposed to the offensive linemen that make it happen is beyond me. A stacked line with a medicore back is far more productive then a mediocre line with the likes of a Knowshon.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Alot happened on Saturday evening while the Felton-less Dawgs were losing a hard fought game on the Capstone. Furman Bisher (of all people) broke a story for the AJC last night indicating serious interest in the Georgia job specifically from one Robert Montgomery Knight.

Add this on top of Tim Tucker's article quoting Michael Adams' desire for a "proven entity", and I believe you have the formula to calculate very good odds (as of today)that Bob Knight will be the next head basketball coach at UGA.

Let's just put it this way....if you think Adams won't play a large part, if not being responsible for the final say, in the selection process, you've been living under a rock or just not paying attention.

Let me first go on the record by saying my first instinct is that this is not the best outcome. Knight isn't going to be anywhere very long, 5 years is about as optimistic as you could be. There also is the small matter of there being zero guarantee that he'd produce the results we're looking for during that short period of time. As Paul points out this morning at Georgia Sports Blog, Knight's record was only slightly better than Felton over the past 3 seasons that they both coached.

Trey Thompkins was also asked about it after the game, he stated that he'd be all for the hire. Don't think that his comments don't mean anything either. It wouldn't surprise me at all if an early announcement (perhaps even before the season ends) made Trey's buddy Derrick Favors reconsider things. This shouldn't be anywhere near the deciding factor, but I think it should be noted that UGA does have the kind of roster (perhaps with the addition of an impact JUCO shooting guard) that somebody could be successful with next season. For the next guy to add Favors would only increase that possibility. The sooner that announcement is made, the more likelihood that it could happen. By no means am I saying that Favors coming to UGA is likely in any scenario, but just something to think about.

Should be interesting to watch this play out in the coming weeks and months.